WHO: Expedition 33 (Gustave, Maelle, Sciel, and Verso) WHEN: post-mingle, pre-mission WHERE: the apartments WHAT: the remaining members of Expedition 33 NOTES\WARNINGS: spoilers for Acts 1&2 of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
She worries that this will lead to Verso finding Renoir's company, but can't bring herself to say it aloud, as if Gustave might hear. They can't doubt him. Not now.
"You really miss the collapsed buildings and floating rubble that much?" Maelle jokes instead.
“It’s home,” she hums, reaching out with the paper towel to gently daub at Maelle’s cheeks. “It will always be home. And I think you’ll like it more with Gustave back, hmm?”
Sheepish though her expression may be, she lets Sciel fuss.
"Yeah. That's part of why I came on the Expedition with him," she admits, though it's not really much of an admission at this point. "I didn't want to be there without him. Did he ever tell you about the day I told him I was going?"
Told her guardian she'd be throwing away so many years.
"He was upset. Said he was totally blindsided," Maelle recalls. For all her difficulties when younger, she was a fairly obedient child. She got home when Emma and Gustave requested. She told them where she was going if her routine was changing. She did her chores, and did them well. She was grateful enough, and aware enough that this was going to be her last shot at a family before she was considered old enough to live on her own.
An angry Gustave isn't one she's accustomed to seeing.
"I haven't seen him like that since then... at least until everything with Verso. So much has happened and he wasn't there for it. I'm worried about him."
“He’s formidable when he’s angry, isn’t he? Very cutting.”
She can’t help but smile a little, even if it’s sad.
Maelle’s life feels so short to Sciel in this moment. It often does, but at least not in this way, where she’s never gotten to experience adulthood, let alone spend more of her life as one than not. Sciel remembers quite fondly the first time meeting Maelle, when her face was even smaller and rounder, but she wonders how Maelle remembers it, or how she might remember anything that’s transpired since. Gommages, break-ups, deaths, disputes with councils and bureaus, all sorts of losses. Plenty of occasions that she was in Gustave’s life for, but safeguarded from the harshest parts, the emotions children don’t need to be burdened by. Every year a little older, privy to a few more realities.
The year on the Expedition was the closest she’d ever get to standing amongst them as another adult, wasn’t it?
She sets aside the paper towel, putting both hands to Maelle’s shoulders instead, and her voice is steady, calm.
“I’m worried too. That’s why it’s important we let him have some breathing room, to feel his feelings and think about things.”
She gives Maelle a little squeeze.
“But even if we’re a little more apart with Verso than we have been as of late, we’re not driving him away, either. Neither of them will make you choose, even if Verso is being a bit stupid about it.”
Formidable, cutting. Not words anyone would use for Gustave on a normal day. It's not in his nature. It had hurt to upset him then, and it hurt to see him upset with Verso. It feels like something Maelle needs to fix despite not knowing how, and being very aware neither Verso or Gustave want her involved. It's frustrating. Frustrating, and sad.
She meets Sciel's eyes. She listens to what she says and nods. Breathing room for the both of them. Maelle understands the need to simply be alone every now and then.
"Verso said he'd just been filling Gustave's place," she says quietly, and that had hurt to hear just as much as the rejection. Maybe more. There was no replacing Gustave, not ever, not for a moment. "I didn't know he felt that way. Or if he's just--saying that, to be purposely stupid?"
Sciel pauses. She’d been joking, just a bit, by calling him stupid, and she regrets it the minute it’s repeated back to her. Irresponsible would be better, maybe, for putting those feelings on a child’s shoulders, but it’s difficult for him. She knows that.
“I don’t know if it’s on purpose, really, the way his family is. But it’s no excuse for passing the hurt onto you, is it?”
She’d seen the look on his face, as the door had closed on Alicia. How many things had kept them apart. She can’t even begin to understand the years of conflict wrapped around their family, but she does know it doesn’t make for a very stable guardian.
“But, Maelle… our meeting with Verso, his joining us… that will always be intertwined with losing Gustave, even if he could never take Gustave’s place in our hearts,” Sciel says. “It’s difficult to untangle those two things, for them as much as us.”
She remembers all too well when Verso joined them. She didn't want to hear his condolences or talk to him or look at him--until he offered a way to not only kill the Paintress, but Renoir. And then he showed his compassion, and pieces of himself that Maelle found interesting or silly, and she still remembers how it felt to hear him play a song that he would play for his sister and how she could hum along as if she'd heard it so many times before.
"We're always going to be haunted by that day, aren't we? The cliffs," she says. Even with Gustave back--Renoir, too, is here. And even if he weren't, Verso would still have to tell the terrible truth of who his father is, and that never seems to go well no matter how he does it.
“It never really goes away,” she says, with a little nod. “It’s just… different, in time.”
She slides her hands down the sides of Maelle’s arms.
“Do you remember around when my husband died?” She was, after all, only ten. “I couldn’t bear to be alone, for a while. Sophie slept on my couch. My neighbour knocked twice a day. And I must have stolen Gustave away from you about a hundred times, or at least it felt that often.”
She can picture Maelle so clearly, following Gustave around like a little shadow, annoyed at being unable to follow him everywhere. No wonder she put her foot down, insisted upon wringing out every last moment by his side.
“Even if he strolled back in as if nothing had happened, not a mark on his body, I still would have sat up until the small hours of the morning, panicking. For years, maybe. But in time…”
It’s a strange thing, to be optimistic about, but it’s still a future worth building.
She remembers Gustave explaining to her what happened to Sciel's husband. An accident, and how sad it was that the already short amount of time between them was robbed away. It had been an opportunity to spend more time with Emma, then, but Maelle always had a clear preference for Gustave. But now, older, she understands. Gustave's patience and understanding would be a balm to anyone's hurts.
"You adjust," Maelle says, eyes soft as she regards Sciel. They haven't been here very long at all. Apparently, they have time. She certainly hopes the memory fades, or at least stops intruding on her time with Gustave so consistently. For him, too.
"Gustave is really good at making people feel better," she continues after a moment. "We have to make sure to do that for him."
They have so much time. It seems to stretch on infinitely, well beyond Sciel’s own understanding. They could spend decades, even centuries going from world to world, helping people, until their own home could be saved. That’s a good way to spend time, isn’t it? With both old friends and new.
It’s a good time to grow. Get to know themselves. Let the hurts of the pass fall away with time, instead of festering, unaddressed.
“We adjust,” she agrees, “and we do everything in our power to make things normal for him. I think that’ll come naturally to us, don’t you? I know I never see Gustave smile bigger than when he’s paling around with you.”
That last remark gets a smile out of Maelle. If there's one thing she's never doubted, it's Gustave's affection for her. He'd be heartbroken if Maelle felt unloved, even for a moment.
"I guess it's a good time as any to ask if I've offended you, by calling you family," Maelle says lightly, teasing. As if another rejection wouldn't send her into a spiral. But it's Sciel, and Maelle thinks she knows her well enough to anticipate her response.
Sciel laughs, quiet, like Verso might hear her from down the hall.
“I know what kind of exclusive club you keep, mademoiselle, so I consider it an honour,” she says. “Even if you didn’t say it, I knew I must be something to you when you stopped rolling your eyes when I’d go in for a hug!”
"I did not roll my eyes," Maelle says, rolling her eyes, and it's her that goes in for the hug. They may have forever here, but she doesn't want to regret. Regret not giving the hug, regret not saying the words. Even if they're rejected and fill her with shame, at least she's said them.
She's careful not to drop her water glass, but she does fully sink into the embrace, letting out a pleased little hum. Strong hugs are the best hugs. Sciel's are second best to Gustave's.
"What? You haven't seen him roll his eyes?" She asks with a little laugh. Guess where she picked up the habit? "Emma hated it."
“Oh, have I,” she repeats. “You would not believe the eye rolls I extracted from that man during our time at Aquafarm Three. In fact… we can do it right now.”
An eye roll, a laugh, a deadpan look –– any would be a good temperature check, at the very least.
"What? Right now?" Maelle pulls back, putting her glass down on the counter, ready to pay full attention to whatever Sciel is scheming. She tips her head to the side.
“Right now, if you can find him, or whenever he gets home,” she says. “Talk to him like you always do, but you’re going to call him something else. Straight face, without hesitation. The name is…”
Just in case Gustave is outside the door or has developed superhuman hearing, she leans in to whisper it in Maelle’s ear.
She nods. A plan worthy of following without question.
"Got it. He'll laugh. I know it." Because Maelle will sound crazy, or he'll realize Sciel is getting creative with her mischief. A laugh is a laugh, and Gustave could use one after today.
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"He says he's right down the hall, but it feels like he's going to disappear."
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She smiles, bracing once again.
“Besides. The Expedition isn’t over yet. We still have to discuss how we’ll win Lumière back, now that it has been wiped out by forces unknown.”
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"You really miss the collapsed buildings and floating rubble that much?" Maelle jokes instead.
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"Yeah. That's part of why I came on the Expedition with him," she admits, though it's not really much of an admission at this point. "I didn't want to be there without him. Did he ever tell you about the day I told him I was going?"
Told her guardian she'd be throwing away so many years.
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Who could forget the fears and anxieties, the tweaks to a careful plan to accommodate for a lone survivor, the extra training sessions?
“But the specifics of how you convinced him, no.”
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An angry Gustave isn't one she's accustomed to seeing.
"I haven't seen him like that since then... at least until everything with Verso. So much has happened and he wasn't there for it. I'm worried about him."
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She can’t help but smile a little, even if it’s sad.
Maelle’s life feels so short to Sciel in this moment. It often does, but at least not in this way, where she’s never gotten to experience adulthood, let alone spend more of her life as one than not. Sciel remembers quite fondly the first time meeting Maelle, when her face was even smaller and rounder, but she wonders how Maelle remembers it, or how she might remember anything that’s transpired since. Gommages, break-ups, deaths, disputes with councils and bureaus, all sorts of losses. Plenty of occasions that she was in Gustave’s life for, but safeguarded from the harshest parts, the emotions children don’t need to be burdened by. Every year a little older, privy to a few more realities.
The year on the Expedition was the closest she’d ever get to standing amongst them as another adult, wasn’t it?
She sets aside the paper towel, putting both hands to Maelle’s shoulders instead, and her voice is steady, calm.
“I’m worried too. That’s why it’s important we let him have some breathing room, to feel his feelings and think about things.”
She gives Maelle a little squeeze.
“But even if we’re a little more apart with Verso than we have been as of late, we’re not driving him away, either. Neither of them will make you choose, even if Verso is being a bit stupid about it.”
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She meets Sciel's eyes. She listens to what she says and nods. Breathing room for the both of them. Maelle understands the need to simply be alone every now and then.
"Verso said he'd just been filling Gustave's place," she says quietly, and that had hurt to hear just as much as the rejection. Maybe more. There was no replacing Gustave, not ever, not for a moment. "I didn't know he felt that way. Or if he's just--saying that, to be purposely stupid?"
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“I don’t know if it’s on purpose, really, the way his family is. But it’s no excuse for passing the hurt onto you, is it?”
She’d seen the look on his face, as the door had closed on Alicia. How many things had kept them apart. She can’t even begin to understand the years of conflict wrapped around their family, but she does know it doesn’t make for a very stable guardian.
“But, Maelle… our meeting with Verso, his joining us… that will always be intertwined with losing Gustave, even if he could never take Gustave’s place in our hearts,” Sciel says. “It’s difficult to untangle those two things, for them as much as us.”
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"We're always going to be haunted by that day, aren't we? The cliffs," she says. Even with Gustave back--Renoir, too, is here. And even if he weren't, Verso would still have to tell the terrible truth of who his father is, and that never seems to go well no matter how he does it.
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She slides her hands down the sides of Maelle’s arms.
“Do you remember around when my husband died?” She was, after all, only ten. “I couldn’t bear to be alone, for a while. Sophie slept on my couch. My neighbour knocked twice a day. And I must have stolen Gustave away from you about a hundred times, or at least it felt that often.”
She can picture Maelle so clearly, following Gustave around like a little shadow, annoyed at being unable to follow him everywhere. No wonder she put her foot down, insisted upon wringing out every last moment by his side.
“Even if he strolled back in as if nothing had happened, not a mark on his body, I still would have sat up until the small hours of the morning, panicking. For years, maybe. But in time…”
It’s a strange thing, to be optimistic about, but it’s still a future worth building.
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"You adjust," Maelle says, eyes soft as she regards Sciel. They haven't been here very long at all. Apparently, they have time. She certainly hopes the memory fades, or at least stops intruding on her time with Gustave so consistently. For him, too.
"Gustave is really good at making people feel better," she continues after a moment. "We have to make sure to do that for him."
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It’s a good time to grow. Get to know themselves. Let the hurts of the pass fall away with time, instead of festering, unaddressed.
“We adjust,” she agrees, “and we do everything in our power to make things normal for him. I think that’ll come naturally to us, don’t you? I know I never see Gustave smile bigger than when he’s paling around with you.”
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"I guess it's a good time as any to ask if I've offended you, by calling you family," Maelle says lightly, teasing. As if another rejection wouldn't send her into a spiral. But it's Sciel, and Maelle thinks she knows her well enough to anticipate her response.
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“I know what kind of exclusive club you keep, mademoiselle, so I consider it an honour,” she says. “Even if you didn’t say it, I knew I must be something to you when you stopped rolling your eyes when I’d go in for a hug!”
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“I must have imagined it,” she concedes. “You’d never. Not in Gustave’s household.”
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"What? You haven't seen him roll his eyes?" She asks with a little laugh. Guess where she picked up the habit? "Emma hated it."
From them both.
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An eye roll, a laugh, a deadpan look –– any would be a good temperature check, at the very least.
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"How so?"
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Just in case Gustave is outside the door or has developed superhuman hearing, she leans in to whisper it in Maelle’s ear.
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"Seriously?" She looks at Sciel, doubtful. "Do I get to know the story behind that, or is it something he should have to explain?"
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"Got it. He'll laugh. I know it." Because Maelle will sound crazy, or he'll realize Sciel is getting creative with her mischief. A laugh is a laugh, and Gustave could use one after today.
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